*Special Fishing Day-long, June 17th, 9am until 5pm - Register and info here

**Parent Info Session, June 23rd, 6:00pm MDT Zoom - Register here

Program Details

• Monthly Sunday Gatherings: 10:30am–3:30pm (Dates below)

• Location: Private Residence in Lefthand Canyon (Within 15-20 minutes of Boulder)

• Parent Meetings: Two 1.5 hour meetings, in September and February

• Group size: 8-12 boys

• Two Groups: 6th-7th grade + 8th-9th grade

An Invitation for Your Growing Son

After two decades of guiding boys through rites of passage and earth-based mentorship, I’m honored to continue Boys of the Earth here in the Boulder area for another year.

There is a profound gap — some might say crisis — in our dominant culture when it comes to supporting boys through the critical portal of adolescence.

In most ancestral and indigenous cultures, this was the time when boys were mentored by older men — “uncles” of the village — who met them in the wilds to guide, witness, and initiate them into young adulthood. This rite of passage helped integrate the raw energies of sexuality, soul, psyche, and mortality that arise in this phase of life, ensuring they were met in life-giving, culture-bearing ways.

Boys of the Earth seeks to reclaim and reimagine this ancestral inheritance.

Boys of the Earth Registration Form

Over the course of the year, we will work with the Earth as our core mentor — tracking animals, moving with stealth, building fires, learning wilderness skills, tending the land with reverence, and cultivating deeper honesty and connection with ourselves and one another. We will connect with ancestral earth lineages (our own and those of the lands we walk) while developing emotional intelligence, confidence, leadership, and group belonging.

Each gathering supports the boys in rooting into both their inner nature and the outer wild. Through nature connection, earth skills, storytelling, council, challenge, games, and age-appropriate soul work, the boys grow in confidence, care, resilience, and cultural literacy.

While each group will be developmentally tailored to the boys involved, both groups will move through a similar arc of mentorship, challenge, brotherhood, and initiation.

Our journey culminates in an optional, but highly encouraged, rite-of-passage backpacking trip in the summer backpacking trip

This offering is part of a longer vision: helping grow a robust local culture of mentorship, initiation, earth-connection, and intergenerational belonging for boys and young men. Our aim is to mentor these boys through High School and we’d like to prepare ultimately for a rite-of-passage hunting trip when the boys feel ready.

Weaving in parents and the broader community is a key part of regenerative rites of passage and healthy culture for our youth.  To this end, we will hold a parent program (a couple hour meeting) twice during the year, as a space for parents to be held in their own journeys of supporting their sons. Additionally, we will have a community “send-off” ritual on the first Sunday, and a community blessing/honoring at the end of the camping trip.

*We also will ask that each parent reads two chapters in Nature and The Human Soul by Bill Plotkin, the first chapter and the chapter of the Adolescent Rite of Passage time, The Thespian in the Oasis

Topics We’ll Explore Together

Nature Connection & Earth Skills

• How to track animals and read the language of the forest

• How to move silently and unseen through the wild, activating our stealth

• Fire-building, shelter-making, and survival basics

• An introduction to sacred hunting and animal processing

• Learning to tend the Earth with respect and care

  
  

Rites of Passage & Becoming an Adolescent

• What it means to go through a rite of passage - and why it matters

• The difference between being a boy and becoming a young man

• How to meet challenge, fear, and change with both gentleness and courage

• What are emotions and how to be with our own and others in a healthy way

• A final weekend adventure to mark your transition

  
  

 Speaking Truth & Building Brotherhood

• How to be real, honest, and respectful in what you say

• Learning to listen with presence, care and empathy

• Building group cohesion through vulnerability and play

• Learning how to be relational and care for ourselves and other

• Making strong friendships and building trust with other guys

  
  

Changing Bodies, New Feelings 

• What’s happening in your body and brain - and that it’s normal

• How to understand big feelings, mood changes, and attraction

• Talking about sexuality, consent, and boundaries with honesty and respect

• How to handle desire in a way that honors yourself and others

• Exploring how gender, identity, and expression can be unique for everyone - and how to meet that with curiosity and care

• Remembering that this part of life is sacred, not shameful

  
  

 Ancestry, Culture & Belonging

• Connecting to where you come from - your people and your roots

• Honoring the land we’re on and those who came before us

• Understanding what it means to belong and to care for something bigger than yourself

• Learning from mentors and becoming one in time
  

Dates

*Parent Info Session, June 23rd, 6:00pm MDT Zoom - Register here

**Special Fishing Day-long, June 17th, 9am until 5pm - Register and info here

Groups will run on Sundays (10:30am–3:30pm)

• September 13

• October 4

• November 15

• December 13

• January 24

• February 7

• March 7

• April 11

• May 9

  
  

  
  

Mandatory In-Person Parent Program (at least one parent)

• Sept 9 (5-6:30pm, in Boulder)

• Feb 8 (5-6:30pm, in Boulder)

About John Wolfstone (Lead Mentor)

I am a rites-of-passage guide, somatic trauma-resolution coach, storyteller, and mentor. For the past 20 years, I’ve worked with youth in wilderness and arts-based settings, including many years co-leading a two-year puberty rites-of-passage program in California.

I am deeply passionate about youth mentorship and rites of passage as a key part of a healthy, regenerative culture — and how this work supports the larger arc of human life, including birth, adulthood, elderhood, grief, and community belonging.

I am a deep student of the 8 Shields Nature Connection Cultural Mentoring Model, a graduate of the Orphan Wisdom School and Weaving Earth Relational Education School, and trained in multiple lineages of rites of passage, grief work, and somatic healing. I am also currently completing advanced Somatic Experiencing training.

Alongside this work, I guide men’s rites of passage journeys and mentor adults in earth-based ritual and cultural renewal work.

Visit www.thresholds.earth for more information about me and my work.

About Yosef Chaim (Co-Mentor)

I am a relationship coach and youth mentor. Throughout the past 18 years, I’ve worked with youth in schools and Summer camps, leading classes on social-emotional learning and wilderness awareness.

The work that I do with youth centers around building skills for leadership, communication, and confidence.

I hold a masters degree in education as well as advanced certifications in somatic coaching and group dynamics. 

Some key milestones along my personal journey include: a 30 day wilderness solo, multiple 10-day silent meditation retreats, and completing a men’s work initiation with formerly incarcerated men. 

I also lead programs for men focused on building the confidence and consciousness for more intimate and meaningful relationships.

Visit www.yosefhayim.com for more information about me and my work.

*The program will also include support from an assistant mentor

Investment

• Root Tier — $1650

  
  

A limited number of lower cost spots for families who need additional support.

• Hearth Tier — $1850

  
  

The standard tuition tier that sustains the core costs of the program.

• Steward Tier — $2150

  
  

Supports accessibility, support staff, and the long-term growth of this work.

*You may pay in full, or in two payments.  A deposit of $500 will be requested at time of registration.

**Tuition covers the full year-long program and is non-refundable, regardless of missed sessions. This allows us to responsibly budget and plan for the year ahead, including securing and paying our co-guide and assistant guide, reserving the site, and preparing materials and program support in advance.

Register

To sign your son up, please register at the link below:

Boys of the Earth Registration Form

-> And then send your $500 deposit via venmo @john-wolfstone

For any questions, reach out to John at 970-218-5078, or j.wolfstone@gmail.com